Out Loud! With Gupreet Singh
Wed, October 08 2008
Lee Richardson is seeking re-election in Calgary Centre. In a recent interview he linked crime in big cities to immigration.
He said, “Particularly in big cities, we’ve got people that have grown up in a different culture and they don’t have the same background in terms of the stable communities we had 20, 30 years ago in our cities … and don’t have the same respect for authority or people’s person or property.”
Although he later regretted his statement, opposition leaders challenged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to fire Richardson immediately. That never happened, despite the fact that the Liberals and Greens have fired their rogue candidates for supporting “anti-Semitic” views in the past.
Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes, from Manitoba’s Kildonan-St. Paul riding, was fired for writing an article six years ago that accused Israeli businesses of knowing about the 9/11 terrorist attacks prior to them occurring.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May removed B.C.’s Newton-North Delta riding candidate John Shavluk for making similar remarks in an online forum in 2006.
If these parties can fire candidates for allegations against the Jewish community, how can Lee Richardson get away with a statement that vilifies Canada’s immigrants?
His statement was not only offensive towards immigrants, but factually wrong. Lee’s reference to people who’ve grown up in different cultures indulging in crime is not fully accurate. For instance, Indo-Canadian gang violence in Metro Vancouver cannot be attributed to immigration, as most young men connected with the gang violence are Canadian born. There are many other factors at play here, including but not exclusive to social isolation and economic marginalization.
To label a race or a culture as criminal is a primitive idea.
Even in India, domestic migrants shifting from one region of the country to another are often looked upon with suspicion by the locals. In Mumbai, the financial capital of India, a Hindu extremist group has spearheaded a campaign against migratory workers from poor northern Indian provinces.
Yes, Richardson may not be alone in holding such views, but much needs to be done to stop this form of ignorant bigotry.
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